Mounting arrangement for an outboard motor

ABSTRACT

The upper resilient mounts for connecting the power unit of an outboard motor to the swivel bracket are supported within cavities formed by cooperating semi-circular recesses in the driveshaft housing plate and the exhaust extension plate.

ilnited States Patent Ellingsen Jan. 1, 1974 MOUNTING ARRANGEMENT FOR AN OUTBOARD MOTOR Raymond L. Ellingsen, Oshkosh, Wis.

Inventor:

Assignee: Brunswick Corporation, Skokie, 111.

Filed: July 26, 1972 Appl. No.: 275,231

US. Cl. 115/17 Int. Cl B63h 21/30 Field of Search 115/17, 18 R; 248/4,

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 7/1965 Larsen 115/17 2,916,007 12/1959 Kiekhaefer 115/18 R Primary ExaminerDuane A. Reger Assistant Examiner-Charles E. Frankfort Att0rneyRoy T. Montgomery [57] ABSTRACT The upper resilient mounts for connecting the power unit of an outboard motor to the swivel bracket are supported within cavities formed by cooperating semicircular recesses in the driveshaft housing plate and the exhaust extension plate.

5 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures T MOUNTING ARRANGEMENT FOR AN OUTBOA MOTOR In U.S. Pat. No. 2,916,007 to Kiekhaefer, there is shown an arrangement for mounting an outboard vmotor on a boat so as to vibrationally isolate the outboard motor from the boat and the connected swivel bracket. In this arrangement, the upper resilient mounts have been supported within a split hollow cylindrical member which is secured to the inner wall of the driveshaft housing.

While this mounting arrangement has functioned satisfactorily insofar as producing the desired isolation of the vibrations of the outboard motor from the boat and swivel bracket, it is quite difficult to remove the upper resilient mounts whenever replacement is necessary. It is not only necessary to disconnect the driveshaft housing from the engine but it also is necessary to separate each of the split hollow cylindrical members with the swivel bracket still connected to the upper resilient mounts. Thus, it has been difiicult and relatively expensive to replace the upper resilient mounts of the aforesaid Kiekhaefer patent whenever such has been necessary.

Additionally, the support of the split hollow cylindrical members, which support the upper resilient mounts, within the driveshaft housing has resulted in the split hollow cylindrical members being disposed in the exhaust passage in the driveshaft housing. As a result, there has been a problem of preventing leakage of the exhaust gas at the junction of the semi-cylindrical members, which form each of the split hollow cylindrical members. Thus, the seals to prevent this exhaust gas leakage have worn before the resilient mount whereby it has been necessary to replace the seals. This also has necessitated disconnecting the driveshaft housing from the engine in addition to the undesirability of the leakage of the exhaust gas.

The present invention satisfactorily solves the foregoing problems by providing an improved arrangement for supporting the upper resilient mounts that connect the outboard motor to the swivel bracket. The present invention employs a driveshaft housing plate, which is separate from the driveshaft housing, and an exhaust extension plate, which is separate from the engine and the driveshaft housing, to support the upper resilient mounts. Thus, the mere separation of the driveshaft housing plate from the exhaust extension plate results in the upper resilient mounts being completely accessible. Accordingly, it is much easier and less expensive to replace the upper resilient mounts with the mounting arrangement of the present invention.

Furthermore, by supporting the upper resilient mounts in cooperating semi-cylindrical cavities or recesses in the driveshaft housing plate and the exhaust extension plate, the upper resilient mounts are disposed exterior of the exhaust passages in the exhaust extension plate and the driveshaft housing plate. Accordingly, there is no problem of any leakage of the exhaust gas due to the upper resilient mounts since the upper resilient mounts are disposed completely external of the exhaust passages.

Additionally, since the supports for the upper resilient mounts are formed integral with the driveshaft housing plate and the exhaust extension plate, a stronger support is provided than has previously been available. This additional strenth enables the upper resilient mounts to be capable of being subjected to heavier loads than previously if such should occur.

It is only necessary to separate the driveshaft housing plate from the exhaust extension plate to provide complete accessibility to the upper resilient mounts. As a result, it is only necessary to disconnect about onethird of the number of bolts as with the arrangement of the aforesaid Kiekhaefer patent to obtain accessibility to the upper resilient mounts. Therefore, the time required to replace the upper resilient mounts of the present invention is substantially decreased in comparison with that of the aforesaid patent.

An object of this invention is to provide an improved support for the upper resilient mounts of an outboard motor.

Other objects of this invention will be readily perceived from the following description, claims, and drawing.

This invention relates to an outboard motor including a power unit with means to support the power unit on a boat and means to connect the support means to the power unit. The connecting means includes horizontally disposed resilient means and means connecting the resilient means to the support means. The power unit has first and second means cooperating with each other to surround and support the resilient means.

The attached drawing illustrates a preferred embodiment of the invention, in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of a portion of an outboard motor in which the support of the present invention for the upper resilient mounts is employed;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of a portion of a driveshaft housing plate of the present invention with the mounts supported therein;

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of a portion of the exhaust extension plate that cooperates with the driveshaft housing plate of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a sectional view, partly in plan, of one of the resilient mounts and its connection to the steering ann.

Referring to the drawing and particularly FIG. ll, there is shown an outboard motor lit). The outboard motor 110 includes a driveshaft housing 11 having a driveshaft housing plate 12 supported at the upper end of the driveshaft housing IT. The driveshaft housing plate B2 is secured to the driveshaft housing Ell by screws extending throughpassage 113 (see FIG. 2) in the driveshaft housing plate 12 into threaded holes in the upper surface of the drive shaft housing 11.

The driveshaft housing plate 112 has an exhaust extension plate M supported on its upper surface. An engine 15 has its lower end in abutting engagement with the upper end of the exhaust extension plate M. The engine 115 has six studs (not shown) extending therefrom for passage through passages 117 (see FIG. 3) in the exhaust extension plate 14 and passages lib (see FIG. 2) in the driveshaft housing plate 12. The engine 115 is secured to the driveshaft housing plate ll2 through nuts (not shown) cooperating with the lower threaded ends of the studs. The engine 15 also has two other studs (not shown) passing through passage 19 (see FIG. 3) in the exhaust extension plate M and secured thereto by nuts (not shown) cooperating with the lower threaded ends of the studs.

Accordingly, the outboard motor has a power unit formed by the driveshaft housing ill, the driveshaft housing plate 112, the exhaust extension plate M, and the engine I5. This power unit must be mounted on a boat so as to propel the boat since the lower end of the driveshaft housing 11 has a propeller housing connected thereto.

Accordingly, the power unit is connected to a swivel bracket 20, which is secured to a stem or transom 21 of a boat by a clamp bracket 22. The clamp bracket 22 is connected to the swivel bracket in the well known manner.

The power unit must be pivotally connected to the swivel bracket 20 so that the power unit may pivot about a vertical axis to produce steering of the boat. Accordingly, the swivel bracket 20 has a vertical pivot pin 22 (see FIG. 1) supported therein.

The lower end of the pin 22' may be pivotally connected to the driveshaft housing 11 by the lower mounting arrangement shown and described in the aforesaid Kiekhaefer patent, for example. Thus, the lower end of the power unit is mounted for pivotal movement about the axis of the pivot pin 22'.

The upper mounting arrangement includes a pair of resilient mounts 23, which are similar to those shown in the aforesaid Kiekhaefer patent. Each of the resilient mounts 23 is supported in a cavity or recess formed by a cooperating lower semi-cylindrical recess 24 (see FIG. 2) in the driveshaft housing plate 12 and an upper semi-cylindrical recess 25 (see FIG. 3) in the exhaust extension plate 14.

Each of the resilient mounts 23 includes an annular inner shell 26 (see FIG. 4), an annular resilient member 27, and an annular outer shell 28. The resilient member 27 is bonded to each of the shells 26 and 28.

The outer shell 28 of each of the resilient mounts 23 rests in a portion 23 (see FIG. 2) of one of the semicylindrical recesses 24 in the driveshaft housing plate 12. The outer shell 28 of each of the resilient mounts 23 has a portion (see FIG. 3) of each of the semicylindrical recesses 25 in the exhaust extension plate 14 fit thereover.

Accordingly, when the driveshaft housing plate 12 and the exhaust extension plate 14 are connected to each other through the studs and the cooperating nuts, the outer shell 2% of each of the resilient mounts 23 is retained in the portions 29 and 30 of the semicylindrical recesses 24 and 25, respectively. Accordingly, the resilient mounts 23 are retained within the power unit and surrounded by the driveshaft housing plate 12 and the exhaust extension plate 14 so as to be supported thereby.

Bolts 31 (see FIG. 4) extend from a steering arm 32, which is pivotally mounted on the pivot pin 22 of the swivel bracket 20. Each of the bolts 31 extends through the inner shell 26 of one of the resilient mounts 23 and is connected to the resilient mount 23 by a nut 33 cooperating with the bolt 31.

As shown in FIG. 4, each of the bolts 31 has its head 34 abut against a portion 35 of the steering arm 32 so that a portion of the steering arm 32 extends into the cavity formed by the cooperating recesses 24 and 25. Thus, the upper end of the power unit is pivotally mounted so that turning of the steering arm 32 causes pivoting of the power unit about the axis of the pivot pin 22.

The resilient mounts 23 are separated from any exhaust passages (one shown at 36 in FIG. 2) in the driveshaft housing plate 12 and any exhaust passages (one shown at 37 in FIG. 3) in the exhaust extension plate 14. The exhaust passages in the exhaust extension plate 14 communicate with the exhaust of the engine 15 and with the exhaust passages in the driveshaft housing plate 12.

It is only necessary to disconnect the driveshaft housing plate 12 from the engine 15 and the exhaust extension plate M through releasing the nuts on the six studs of the engine 15 to provide ready access to the resilient mounts 23. There is no requirement of any disassembly of the driveshaft housing plate 12 from the driveshaft housing 11 or the exhaust extension plate 14 from the engine 15.

An advantage of this invention is that it is easy to assembly the upper mounts of a swivel bracket on an outboard motor. Another advantage of this invention is that the upper mounts for connecting the swivel bracket to the power unit of the outboard motor are disposed exterior to any exhaust passages so that there is no exhaust gas leakage.

For purposes of exemplification, a particular embodiment of the invention has been shown and described according to the best present understanding thereof. However, it will be apparent that changes and modifications in the arrangement and construction of the parts thereof may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. An outboard motor including a power unit comprising a power head and a drive shaft housing and means to support said power unit on a boat; comprising, means connecting said support means to said power unit including; a plurality of horizontally disposed arms and resilient mounting means attached to each of said arms, said power head and drive shaft housing having attached thereto first and second means, respectively, cooperating with each other to engage and retain said resilient mounting means.

2. The outboard motor according to claim 1 in which said power unit includes, a drive shaft housing plate attached to the upper end of said drive shaft housing, and an exhaust extension plate attached to the bottom of said power head; said drive shaft housing plate comprising said first engaging means of said power unit, and said exhaust extension plate comprising said second engaging means of said power unit, and means for removably joining said first and second engaging means with said power head and drive shaft housings respectively attached.

3. The outboard motor according to claim 2 wherein said resilient mounting means includes a pair of cylindrical resilient elements, said first engaging means of said power unit includes a pair of semi-cylindrical recesses in said drive shaft housing plate to receive said cylindrical resilient elements and surround a lower portion thereof, and said second engaging means of said power unit includes a pair of semi-cylindrical recesses in said exhaust extension plate to cooperate with said recesses in said drive shaft housing plate to receive said cylindrical resilient elements and surround an upper portion thereof.

4. The outboard motor according to claim 3 wherein said drive shaft housing plate and said exhaust extension plate have at least one exhaust passage extending mutually therethrough and said exhaust passage is separated from said cylindrical recesses in said drive shaft housing plate and said exhaust extension plate.

5. The outboard motor according to claim 4 in which said support means further includes a swivel bracket connected to the boat, a pivot pin supported by said swivel bracket; and wherein said horizontally disposed arms comprise a yoke mounted on said pivot pin.

t a t a 

1. An outboard motor including a power unit comprising a power head and a drive shaft housing and means to support said power unit on a boat; comprising, means connecting said support means to said power unit including; a plurality of horizontally disposed arms and resilient mounting means attached to each of said arms, said power head and drive shaft housing having attached thereto first and second means, respectively, cooperating with each other to engage and retain said resilient mounting means.
 2. The outboard motor according to claim 1 in which said power unit includes, a drive shaft housing plate attached to the upper end of said drive shaft housing, and an exhaust extension plate attached to the bottom of said power head; said drive shaft housing plate comprising said first engaging means of said power unit, and said exhaust extension plate comprising said second engaging means of said power unit, and means for removably joining said first and second engaging means with said power head and drive shaft housings respectively attached.
 3. The outboard motor according to claim 2 wherein said resilient mounting means includes a pair of cylindrical resilient elements, said first engaging means of said power unit includes a pair of semi-cylindrical recesses in said drive shaft housing plate to receive said cylindrical resilient elements and surround a lower portion thereof, and said second engaging means of said power unit includes a pair of semi-cylindrical recesses in said exhaust extension plate to cooperate with said recesses in said drive shaft housing plate to receive said cylindrical resilient elements and surround an upper portion thereof.
 4. The outboard motor according to claim 3 wherein said drive shaft housing plate and said exhaust extension plate have at least one exhaust passage extending mutually therethrough and said exhaust passage is separated from said cylindrical recesses in said drive shaft housing plate and said exhaust extension plate.
 5. The outboard motor according to claim 4 in which said support means further includes a swivel bracket connected to the boat, a pivot pin supported by said swivel bracket; and wherein said horizontally disposed arms comprise a yoke mounted on said pivot pin. 